This week I finished illustration number 12 - only one more to go! That's the good news. The bad news is that I have no idea what the last illustration will be like. I've written out all the text, except for the final page, so I know roughly how the story is meant to progress, but I don't have the image in my mind to work from.


I made up another dummy book as well this week so that I could see how the pictures and text work together in a book format and alter parts as necessary. It was looking great ... until I glued what will hopefully be the final illustration onto the second-to-last page. Grrr - now my system is all messed up. Oh well, it should be fairly simple to repaste the correct picture over the wrong one.

On a more positive note, a number of public libraries around New Zealand have been very supportive of Custard and Carriages and have bought copies of the book. It will be such a thrill to see the book on a library shelf when I go into one of the local Christchurch libraries.

I love book sales! While away in Nelson last weekend, I visited a book store in the local mall. After about 15mins of hunting through an assortment of battered cardboard boxes, I had to finish up because, by that stage, all the others were waiting impatiently for me back in the car. But I managed to find 14 books to buy. I was very pleased with the result of such a rushed search.

Then, as some of my family members were going back to the mall to buy groceries the next day, I tagged along so that I could have a more lengthy browse of the boxes to check if there were any good books that I missed the first time. It turned out that there were a few that escaped me. I ended up buying another four books.

The majority of the books in the boxes were Young Adult fiction, with a selection of children's books thrown in. Usually when I borrow books from libraries, I tend to steer clear of YA fiction. However, there are a few authors that I do enjoy reading and will look out for their books on shelves or in shops - authors such as Joan Bauer, Richard Peck and Gennifer Choldenko.

During the hunt at the book sale on the weekend, I came across another author - Jean Fritz. She is a children's author and although I didn't have any of her books I recognized her name. There were about ten different books of hers in the sale, and I bought all of them!
They were all from a series written by Jean Fritz which focused on famous historical figures or incidents and were illustrated by numerous talented artists like Tomi DePaola and Trina Schart Hyman. I was just as excited to examine the pictures as I was to actually read Fritz's words.

Jean Fritz was born on 16th November (my birthday too!) and is now 96 years old. She has been writing since the mid 1950s and has an impressive list of titles to her name. I can't wait to read through her series of historical books.

While I was away in Nelson for a week, this article appeared in the Mainland Press in Christchurch on Thursday 8 March. Sorry about the quality of the image - I didn't use a scanner but instead just took a photo so the newsprint is a bit blurred.

I had trouble sleeping last night so I listened to the radio for a while. It didn't help me to fall asleep, but I did tune in to a BBC arts program which had a section about a fascinating project that took place around the world yesterday. To celebrate World Book Day (1 March) a group of 24 writers from 4 different coutries worked together to write a novel in 24hrs. Here is an excerpt from the website:

On Wednesday 29 February 2012 Spread the Word is bringing together four teams of writers and editors in London, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and Vancouver, to create a unique novel. The project is an experiment in collaborative writing, using digital technology. The book, which will be written by multiple authors, operating in different time zones and countries, will be launched at noon on World Book Day, Thursday 1 March 2012.

What an intriguing idea! I'm very interested to see the result of their efforts. But I don't think I would work well under those sort of time restraints. Sometimes the words I need when I'm meant to be writing seem to vanish in all directions and I end up spending most of the time trying to pin them to the page. And anyway, how come I've never heard of World Book Day before? It is an excellent chance to celebrate books, but how has it eluded me up until now?

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, its possible to catch some of the action. On Thursday 1st March you will be able to watch a selection of authors and illustrators, together live and online for the first time from the comfort of your computer screen!